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Tips for Indian Brides by Michelle Montes and more in a talk with her

For Michelle Montesmake up is all about mixing, matching and blending of colours. She is based in Delhi and travels all over on bride’s demands.

Her quick interview with us also encompass a few must tips for brides as well as for women like us who are short in time and always have those last ten minutes to get ready! Read on to explore more.

How did you get started as a make-up artist, what was reason behind make-up as a career?
I did my cosmetology course from Christine Valmy International school of Esthetics, Mumbai. After coming back to Delhi ,I did an intern-ship at Vidya Tikari’s Studio for a year and afterwards started doing my own thing.
I didn’t want to do a traditional corporate job rather wanted to incorporate colours into every aspect of my life and loved experimenting with make-up (my mother’s make-up was used for that) .

Is applying make up really an art and needs creativity?
Yes definitely, as a professional, the face is exactly like a canvas on which you create your masterpiece. You need to be able to recognise colours and understand what will give you the desired outcome. Mixing and matching and blending is what make up is all about.
But for everyday, make up is about having fun with colours and textures .

What is your thought on transition of the make up from the earlier heavy look to today’s real and subtle look of brides?
I am all for it . My philosophy is to enhance your features not hide them under a ton of makeup . Makeup is meant to bring out a neater more polished you. Earlier most brides looked nothing like themselves on their wedding day and people would actually comment saying they don’t recognise the bride . Now people don’t want to be buried under a thick layer of foundation.

I am sure make-up must be always on your mind and you keep on relating it with your surroundings. When you walk down the street and see badly applied make up on women; what are your tips for them.
Constantly, when I go out, watch T.V, surf the Internet, I am always looking for ideas, tips and tricks to enhance my style and make it more versatile. It does bother me that a lot of women go out with badly applied makeup.
Keep it simple. 90% of Indian women put on a thick layer of compact powder (which is too light for them ). That is definitely my pet peeve.

What is the common mistake brides tends to make or as in general women tends to make with respect to make up?
Well, I have dealt with both ends of the spectrum where I had to convince a bride with beautiful glowing skin not to cover it all up with an ultra thick coat of cream foundation and to convince another bride to let me make her look bright enough so she at least looks like the bride and not just one of the guests.
The obsession of looking fairer is all around and that is why we see a lot of ghostly looking faces around. I feel one of the most important aspects when doing your makeup is stay true to your self.
For brides one has to go 1-2 shades lighter for the photography but one shouldn’t go beyond that. And if you have to, cover every visible part of the body . A fair, light face looks very strange with a dark neck, ears ,chest or even arms.
Another point is the foundation which is too thick. People often think if they wear foundation, it should be visible . Foundation is meant to hide flaws and even out skin tone!

What are your tips for Skin, how important is helathy skin for make up?
In makeup it is extremely important to have a healthy skin because makeup always sits better on it. For that a healthy diet witha lot of fruits and salads and lots of water is a must. Exfoliation is also something which is overlooked by most ladies. At least once a week the skin needs to be exfoliated . Avoid the scrubs available in the market and try using papaya or oats and milk etc.

What’s your top tip for the girl at home trying to look fresh and ready to go in 10 minutes?
A tinted moisturizer or bb cream , a powder ( if required), mascara, a liner/kajal, a lip balm/gloss and you are good to go.

Any no-nos you have for make up products and any must haves for brides.
For brides every thing needs to be waterproof and long lasting. Brides need to make sure they have a good quality waterproof makeup remover , toner and a night cream with a lot of cotton and ear buds . It’s the makeup artists job to put on makeup but it is the brides job to take it of properly.

Who are your favourite celebrity brides who carried off it in style in regards to make-up?
Kareena Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty had beautiful makeup for their wedding.

LOOKING FOR A BRIDAL MAKE UP ARTIST
Now it’s even easier to find your makeup artist for your wedding or pre-wedding events, just drop us an email atinfo@memorableindianweddings.comwith your wedding date, budget, no. of events for which make up is needed and we will advise you the rest.

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A destination wedding planner for India and South East Asian countries at Memorable Indian Weddings. I also like to share tips and tricks of the trade on Quora. Playing and fiddling on WordPress is one of my all time favourite things to do.